Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 12, the 256th day of 2012. There are 110 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1846: Elizabeth Barrett secretly marries Robert Browning at St. Marylebone Church in London.

1938: Adolf Hitler demands the right of self-determination for the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.

1942: During World War II, a German U-boat off West Africa torpedoes the RMS Laconia, which was carrying Italian prisoners of war, British soldiers and civilians. The German crew, joined by other U-boats, begin rescue operations. (On Sept. 16, the rescue effort comes to an abrupt halt when the Germans are attacked by a U.S. Army bomber; some 1,600 people die while more than 1,100 survive. As a result, U-boat commanders are ordered to no longer rescue civilian survivors of submarine attacks.)

1953: Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in Newport, R.I.

1960: Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy addresses questions about his Roman Catholic faith, telling a Southern Baptist group, “I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.”

1962: In a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy reaffirms his support for the manned space program, declaring: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...”

1986: Joseph Cicippio, the acting comptroller at the American University in Beirut, is kidnapped (he was released in December 1991).

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. has 30 days to appeal a finding by U.S. Tax Court Judge John Williams that the congressman owes $108,000 in back taxes and penalties.

Security Dollar Bank of Niles will be known as Security Financial Corp. when its planned conversion to a bank holding company is completed.

Boardman romps to a 35-0 victory over Chaney High School, bouncing back from a season-opening loss to New Castle.

The Mahoning County Board of Mental Retardation and Development is facing an outbreak of hepatitis in its facilities with two adult clients and one social worker positively diagnosed with hepatitis B.

1972: The first four of several hundred warrants are sworn out by Youngstown’s income tax division against alleged tax evaders.

Two drag racers who pleaded guilty to racing a car up and down Benita Avenue school zone are sentenced to 90 days in county jail by Judge John J. Leskovyansky.

Homes are being sought for 22 cats owned by a retired Canfield school teacher, Margaret Scott, who died at the age of 76.

1962: Joey Naples, younger brother of two slain racketeers, is among nine people secretly indicted by the Mahoning County grand jury on gambling charges.

Youngstown’s second slum clearance-redevelopment project covering some 40 acres in the River Bend area is a step closer as the City Planning Commission unanimously approves plans prepared by consultants.

1937: Four hundred former WPA employees laid off when the WPA retrenched in June are recalled to work on a new $1.8 million Mahoning County road program, says Relief Director I.L. Feuer.

Assistant Attorney General George Hurley of Cleveland and two assistants are in Trumbull County seeking two men, companions of Roy “Happy” Marino, after Vindicator reporters reveal that Marino was playing slot machines at a Vienna Township roadhouse before being taken on a gang “ride.”